Swiss National Bank sells 47,200 shares of FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE)

The Swiss National Bank has sold its stake in FirstEnergy Corp. (NYSE:FE – Free Report) fell 2.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 1,703,244 shares of the utility company, after selling 47,200 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s stake in FirstEnergy was worth $62,441,000 at the time of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in FE. First Trust Direct Indexing LP bought a new stake in FirstEnergy worth $232,000 in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. increased its position in FirstEnergy shares by 0.4% in the fourth quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 983,159 shares of the utility’s stock worth $36,043,000 after purchasing an additional 4,119 shares during the period. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in shares of FirstEnergy by 7.0% during the fourth quarter. Jackson Hole Capital Partners LLC now owns 59,025 shares of the utility’s stock worth $2,164,000 after purchasing an additional 3,848 shares in the last quarter. Atria Wealth Solutions Inc. bought a new stake in FirstEnergy stock in the fourth quarter worth approximately $261,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC acquired a new position in FirstEnergy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $177,000. 89.41% of the shares are held by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst upgrades and downgrades

Several equity research analysts have issued reports on FE stock. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on shares of FirstEnergy in a research report on Wednesday, April 10. They set a buy rating and a price target of €45.00 for the company. Scotiabank lowered their price target on FirstEnergy from $41.00 to $40.00 and set a “sector perform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22. Bank of America lifted their price target on FirstEnergy from $30.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an “underperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded FirstEnergy from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, April 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of ‘Hold’ and a consensus price target of $39.80.

Read our latest FE equity report

First energy stock performance

NYSE:FE opened at $39.24 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $22.58 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55 and a beta of 0.48. FirstEnergy Corp. has a fifty-two week low of $32.18 and a fifty-two week high of $40.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a fifty-day moving average of $37.97 and a 200-day moving average of $37.25.

FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE – Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Friday, February 9. The utility reported $0.62 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.60 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $3.20 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst expectations of $3.10 billion. FirstEnergy had a net margin of 8.22% and a return on equity of 12.45%. FirstEnergy’s revenue increased by 0.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter of the previous year, the company posted earnings per share of $0.50. As a group, equity analysts expect FirstEnergy Corp. will record a profit per share of 2.68 for the current financial year.

FirstEnergy increases dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Saturday, June 1. Investors of record on Tuesday, May 7 will receive a dividend of $0.425 per share. This is a positive change from FirstEnergy’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.41. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 6. This represents a dividend of $1.70 annually and a dividend yield of 4.33%. FirstEnergy’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) currently stands at 94.25%.

FirstEnergyProfile

(Free report)

FirstEnergy Corp. generates, transmits and distributes electricity in the United States through its subsidiaries. It operates through the Regulated Distribution and Regulated Transmission segments. The company owns and operates coal-fired, nuclear, hydroelectric, wind and solar energy facilities.

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